Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
disgruntled Yankee (CHC) hangs manager (DAA) after World Series loss
— Dan as the coach is standing on a stool for some reason during his speech to the losing Yankees. Is he going to hang himself?
— Yep, I saw it coming, though it was Chevy who caused Dan to hang. Still gave me a pretty good laugh, though, and it was a rare deviation from the usual ‘Chevy does a pratfall’ gag these cold openings usually end with.
— I always like when this era does this type of short cold opening with a quick gag.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
Ramblin’ Guy host demonstrates banjo prowess & gets mad at control room
— It feels weird watching this in the mindset of this being a time before he was a regular host.
— He’s already making me laugh a lot with the “great to be here” stuff.
— Funny quick random bit with him spitting water into the audience.
— I love how loose this is. We’re only a minute into this, and he’s already done about 20 different things.
— Ah, here’s the classic “Ramblin’ Guy” routine.
— And there’s his trademark ‘arrow through the head’ prop.
— And now, “Excuuuuuse meeeee!”
— Overall, a very fun monologue.
STARS: ****
SPEAK OUT FOR MILK
CHC says too much during multiple takes for ad
— Pretty funny premise with Chevy inadvertently revealing unpleasant facts about milk.
STARS: ***
JEOPARDY 1999!
contestants’ questions provide a glimpse of the future
DOP describes prizes that Jeopardy! 1999 contestants can win
— I’m surprised to see this in tonight’s episode. I had always thought this was in one of Steve’s 1977 episodes.
— Oh, why didn’t I remember that Chevy is in this? If I had remembered, I would’ve known this sketch couldn’t possibly have been from 1977, because Chevy was gone from the cast by then.
— Watching this sketch in modern times, I get a big kick out of seeing what comedy writers in the 70s jokingly predicted what 1999 would be like.
— The contestants’ last names being a random combo of a letter and various numbers is actually a somewhat accurate prediction, as it kinda mirrors what a lot of online usernames have looked like from the late 1990s and onwards.
— Walter Mondale as first president to accidentally kill himself in office. Well, he did end up almost becoming president in ’84…
— The ‘baby-killing being legalized in 1983’ part was hilariously shocking.
— I wonder why Chevy’s the only contestant not to use his real first name.
— I’m loving this so far.
— Ha, “longest running show on TV”. Is SNL gonna accurately predict the future and say their own show?
— Nope, the answer ended up being “Baa Baa Black Sheep”. I so wanted the answer to be SNL, but understandably, nobody back in 1976 could have foreseen how long this show would last. Besides, in 1999, SNL wouldn’t have been anywhere near the longest running show on TV yet; they celebrated just their 25th anniversary that same year.
— LOL at the meta “comedian who’s career fizzled after leaving NBC’s Saturday Night” part with Chevy. I take it everyone, including viewers, knew back then that he was leaving soon?
— Steve’s ad-lib after he kept stumbling through that one line just now was pretty funny.
— Overall, this was a lot of fun to watch.
STARS: ****½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
CHC narrates boring footage of Rubin Carter [real] jury selection
— The Chairman Mao/Chinese take-out grave joke was hilarious.
— I didn’t get the point of the “artist’s rendering” of Rubin Carter’s trial.
FIDO-FLEX
the Fido-Flex digital watch dog is the only canine that can tell the time
— They screwed up all the close-ups that were supposed to show what each screen on the dog’s body does.
— An okay commercial.
STARS: ***
WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
CHC purports to accept JAC as co-anchor, makes faces during her report
a snacking (ALF) wanders onto set & reads a news item over CHC’s shoulder
— I can already tell from the set-up of Jane’s commentary that it will end up being another “Chevy makes goofy faces behind correspondent’s back” bit.
— Yep, I was right.
— WTF? Franken wandering onto the set out of nowhere.
— Well, Franken’s bit sure was brief, but it was amusing in how random it was.
— I was worried the baby gorilla story would end up having the same punchline as the baby sandpiper story that Chevy has occasionally used, but this one thankfully went in a different direction.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***
BEATNIKS
poet (host), stand-up comic (JOB), dancer (LAN) perform in a beatnik bar
— Oh my god, I absolutely love Dan’s crazy raspy beatnik voice. He is KILLING me in this.
— Chevy looked almost unrecognizable at first.
— Chevy’s wailing and terrible guitar playing is hilarious.
— Steve’s angry poem is very funny as well.
— I didn’t know Garrett could play the guitar and harmonica.
— John appearing as the “hip comic” – I can tell I’m already gonna like this.
— Loved John sneaking in his Brando impression.
— Wow, Laraine’s bit is pretty insane.
— I like how they’ve worked every cast member into this.
— The graphic onscreen is saying Jane’s character is named Francesca Richardson, yet Pardo’s voice-over has called her Francesca Robinson just now.
— The epilogue informing us what each character has gone on to do is pretty funny.
STARS: ****
LOOKS AT BOOKS
(host) gives results of research into abstinence & sports
— That one clip seemed to cut off too early.
— I liked the quick bit about how the catcher was “teased” the night before the game.
— The montage of baseball gaffes being played off as if their lousy performances were caused by abstinence is pretty funny.
STARS: ***
AUTUMN IN NEW YORK
by Gary Weis- various people lip sync to covers of “Autumn in New York”
— Surprise, surprise – yet ANOTHER Gary Weis film that’s not doing anything for me so far.
— The audience always seems to laugh at his films a lot more than I do.
— Okay, the random weasel(?)-head ending made me laugh.
STARS: **
MARY
Ted Baxter’s (host) Drano-in-coffee prank kills Mary Richards (LAN)
— I never knew SNL did a Mary Tyler Moore Show parody in this era. I had always associated SNL’s parodies of that show with the early 80s Mary Gross era.
— I’m loving the dark premise.
— Casting Gilda as Rhoda seems so natural.
— Why was the audience not into this anymore towards the end? They seemed to stop laughing in the last two minutes. I thought the whole sketch was hilarious myself.
STARS: ****
MYSTERIES IN MEDICINE
elaborate diet plan involves faux Eskimo (JOB)
— Some technical issues when the “Mysteries In Medicine” graphic showed up on screen.
— I love the fact that John’s eskimo character is named Blog.
— Laraine’s desire to get her weight down to 10 pounds is almost disturbing, considering her apparent real-life eating disorder back then.
— John’s crazy performance is cracking me up so much.
— I like the twist with Blog turning out to be a refined scientist.
— Overall, a delightfully weird little sketch.
STARS: ****
STEVE MARTIN STAND-UP #2
host does stand-up about meeting Jackie Onassis, destruction of Earth
— I like how back in these days, SNL let stand-up comedian hosts do multiple stand-up sets throughout the show instead of just relegating it to their monologue spot.
— LOL at one person in the audience briefly applauding when Steve spoke against one-night stands.
— The random shoelaces joke was pretty funny.
— The “she was a pig” revelation about Jackie Onassis is hilarious.
STARS: ****
GOODNIGHTS
— Funny gag with the cast all facing backwards for no apparent reason.
_______________________________
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— A great and very enjoyable show, and a nice rebound after the disappointing preceding episode. Just about every single sketch tonight worked; some of them being very well-written and a lot of fun to watch (Jeopardy 1999, Beatniks, Mary Tyler Moore, etc.).
— Right out of the gate, Steve Martin proved himself as someone who was born to host SNL. He hosted this episode with the ease of someone who had already been hosting the show for years.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Karen Black):
— a big step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW:
Buck Henry. This is the famous episode where Buck gets cut in the forehead during a Samurai sketch. Also, I’m not 100% sure, but isn’t this also Chevy’s final episode?
“TOMORROW:
Buck Henry. This is the famous episode where Buck gets cut in the forehead during a Samurai sketch. Also, I’m not 100% sure, but isn’t this also Chevy’s final episode?”
Yes. Yes, it is. They will reference this quite a bit within the show itself.
“— I didn’t know Garrett could play the guitar and harmonica.”
I doubt Garrett can really play guitar. Here he is just strumming all the open strings of the instrument.
If you notice the movie old poster on the wall in “Plato’s Cave” during the “Beatniks” sketch, it’s from an obscure 1938 Universal B-film called “Lady In The Morgue”. and it’s very noticeable behind Belushi’s “Shelly Bayless” bit.
And then, with a chill down my spine, I found this on Wikipedia: ‘The Lady in the Morgue’ is best remembered for its frank treatment of drug addiction among artists, for its frequent references to contemporary jazz and swing music, and for its bizarre setting (morgues, cemeteries).
While Chevy Chase made some hit movies (Foul Play, Caddyshack, the Vacation series), after Christmas Vacation, his career seems to mostly have fizzled not to mention he’s one of the least-liked former cast members to this day…
The sitcom he was on got pretty good reviews. Chevy didn’t completely disappear.
Yeah, the Chevy erasure makes no sense to me. Yes, he’s supposedly a dick, but he had arguably 3-5 comedy classics in the 80s, a great role in a 90s cult classic (Dirty Work) and then a critically adored sitcom in the last decade. That is nothing to scoff at. Most comedians have their window and then fade. Chevy faded like everyone else, but his window was just as strong as anyone. Put some respect on his name.
Agreed, also I understand the jealousy aspect of him leaving after a season and a half a dozen episodes the following season, but he didn’t leave them high and dry, I haven’t watched them all but by looking at the reviews and wiki, seems like Chevy appeared in many of the episodes followed by his departure, even if it was just a commercial parody. If you look at some of the other cast members, they got less screen time then when Chevy left the show and still appeared.
It also poses the question that if any of the other members were given the movie deals he was offered, which means more money, more fame, and better use of his skills, then would they have turned that deal down?
I know that some of the cast would never get movie opportunities chevy got like Loraine, Garret, Or Jane, (had they I think all would have easily jumped on the gravy train as SNL is usually not for staying forever but finding your niche and if someone sees how talented you are earlier then later, than props. It’s pretty rare to see someone jump ship so early, but Chevy had opportunity, so I really can’t say that Belushi, Radner, or Akoyd wouldn’t have done the same as they were often shown the most, aside from Chevy). (I mean Akroyd & Belushi left at the end of season 4, and when I watched an episode from season 5 when Chevy Hosted. it felt bare, even though Lorne included additional cast at that point. But yet Belushi and Akroyd aren’t dicks cause they got movie deals and egos too?
Also Chevy apparently left because of love, as he married his second wife not too long after his finale episode (married in mid December of 76, I think a lot of it had to do on his new wife wanting to stay on the west coast and Chevys notoriety which as Carson mentions, he had 3-5 successful films in the 80s, (3 alone if you just count the vacation series, and others included Fletch and the Three Amigos etc). I know that his success dwindled starting in the early-mid 90s, he was never a Tom Hanks or even Steve Martin. But he certainly did well for his late 70s to end of 80s flicks. And he still appeared in stuff, though a lot of it wasn’t great, I got a kick out of seeing him in Orange County despite his small role, and while I never watched community, it seemed to do very well much ado with CC being one of the main characters. I got a kick out of seeing him play a racist egomaniac on a law and order episode from 2006.
It’s never fun seeing someone that was once handsome and charming or beautiful and funny kind of have a golden opportunity and watch them vanish. I know Kelly Le Broc was never a comedy star, she was known for her beauty and the classic Pantene Pro V commercials “don’t hate me because I’m beautiful..” and she was the stunner that was in weird science and my favorite 80s comedy, “the woman in red”, which has Gene Wilder, Charles Grodon, and Gilda Radner (Wilders wife). It was so depressing to see her appear on one of those awful celeb reality shows, I think it was vh1 celeb weight loss or what not.
But I guess my point is that Chevy had a good run, for some it comes later, some it never happens (I look at the talent of someone like Cecily Strong who only left SNL a few months ago, as I haven’t watched the new season since it seems like all the best cast left..but seeing that she was on the show for so long and never really got far like Kristin Wiig, who I think is talented but imo overrated. Cecily has great range but never made it to the big screen).
I like Pete Davidson and know he was on SNL much longer then Chevy but I feel like some of the former cast resented him since he’s one of the youngest cast members and wasn’t too long after he starred in his own movie, plus his appeal to incredibly famous and stunning women, that’s gotta be an ego blow to the other dudes on SNL that are single and have been on SNL for longer, especially when the cast is so big, It can’t be easy when you reach that level so soon while others are flailing for screen time…
Sorry for the long rant 🙂
Thoughts aside, it was crazy to see how bad Steve Martin was on his first of many hosting gigs, but thankfully he gets better with age! The highlight of this episode for me was the funny milk commercial Chevy did. .
ODDITY: A rare episode where the musical guest only did one song. Friedman had a new LP out at the time; surely it wasn’t his idea to only sing once?
RE: Chevy — watching these early shows in sequence I was reminded what a talented sketch comic he was. But leaving the show after one season and six shows was, yes, seen as a dick move and it really colored a LOT of folks’ perception of him.
As for Jeopardy! 1999 there were a lot of references to George Orwell’s 1984. Also, the scoring was inaccurate, given who responded to each clue.
That “First President to kill himself while in office” very nearly turned out to be you know who during COVID
“Oh, Mr. Commuter!” I love that beatnik sketch! Martin’s poetry is hilarious, and Larraine is incredibly accurate and weird (sounds to me like she’s doing really good Brooklyn accent, especially for a Californian). She trained as a mime with Marcel Marceau in Paris pre-SNL, and you can see some of that paying off here. The screen shots at the end showing what became of each was most certainly an homage to American Graffiti (it’s revealed that one of them actually went on to write American Graffiti, which is pretty meta).
I think the MTM sketch ran out of gas once all the character entrances were made. It was all build around one gag, which to me is always going to become an issue the longer a piece goes on. Might have been stronger without those last two minutes.
I’m wondering if Steve’s second stand up bit at the end was tagged on in lieu of a second musical performance. Wonder what the story is there. That may have even been an ad hoc thing as I’m sure Maritn had plenty of material ready to go.
I’ve noticed that lip-syncing seems to have been considered quite hilarious in the 70s, a la the Weiss film. I was around in the 70s, but I guess I’ve forgotten the novel value of lip syncing then. This is something he used before and I didn’t think he used it to very good effect. A little production value might have helped; some of his films work as little think-pieces, but whenever he does rapid edits or some other type of creative splicing, it doesn’t work.
From the book “Everything’s Bigger in Texas: The Life and Times of Kinky Friedman Hardcover” by Mary Lou Sullivan:
“Kinky’s luck seemed to be changing when he was invited to perform on Saturday Night Live in late October 1976. Although no one remembers who invited Kinky to appear on the show, most likely it was John Belushi and head writer Michael O’Donoghue. Known for dark comedy and black humor, O’Donoghue wrote for National Lampoon, created the National Lampoon Radio Hour, and played “The Ballad of Charles Whitman” on that weekly radio show. He wanted a “Sniper in the Tower” musical skit with Kinky, Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, and Steve Martin based on the Whitman song.”
““We had rehearsals for a week and they cut it at the last minute,” says Kinky. “It really pissed me off because we had a great version of ‘Charles Whitman’ in the can. It was hysterical, fucking great, and they pulled it because of legal problems with the victims or the family of Charles Whitman or some bullshit like that. So they threw the ball to me. At that point I wasn’t really adept at performing solo, but I did ‘Dear Abbie,’ which was a message to Abbie Hoffman because at that time nobody knew where he was.”
““’Whitman’ was the song that might have [taken off],” he adds. “That was a great opportunity and the skit was hilarious. You have a very narrow window when you’re hot and people are buzzed about you; you’ve got to take advantage of it. It was a major production number and would have been killer. But I was left doing a ballad by myself about Abbie Hoffman, and it was kind of weak.””
“Kinky’s irreverent sense of humor and larger-than-life persona were perfect for Saturday Night Live, but his tepid performance and selfindulgent behavior after the show killed any chances of being invited back. “When they canned the skit I went into a petulant snit and gave the producers a hard time,” he says. That hard time lasted a week.”
“Saturday Night Live put him up at the Marriott Essex House, a forty four-story luxury hotel in Manhattan. But a night or two on SNL’s tab evolved into more than a week when Kinky, still fuming about the last minute change, began throwing parties with bowls of cocaine.”
““I started inviting all these people,” says Kinky. “I bought 100 plastic gun-shaped toothbrushes for little kids; you could do a baking soda freeze—put baking soda and cocaine together and put it on your gums… The room was packed, so I was snorting cocaine in the closet.”
““Saturday Night Live picked up the party that went on for a week because I refused to leave the hotel. I’m surprised they didn’t summon the police, but they didn’t. The hotel kept billing me for a year or two. I didn’t pay for it; maybe nobody paid for it.””
Wow…that’s great info. Thanks for sharing that! I knew something seemed odd about Martin coming back with a second stand-up routine. That not only fills in the blank, but details a really crazy story…..only in the 70s!
Kinky’s mystery novels have touches of autobiography throughout. He refers to that little incident in a paragraph within the pages of “The Love Song of J. Edgar Hoover”, which corroborates well with rssk’s post:
“I’d first met McGovern in a large closet — it would have to be — in my suite at the Essex House one night when I was doing Saturday Night Live. Both of us were flying on about eleven different kinds of herbs and spices at the time, so I can never be sure, but I believe the personage who gets the credit or the blame for introducing us was Piers Akerman, the world’s smartest, and loudest, Australian. Why the three of us were in the closet at the same time is a matter of conjecture, but at least we eventually came out, which is more than many New Yorkers can say. When we emerged, I had a new, rather large Irish friend and I noticed that the suite was now full of other new friends, many of whom had Bob Marley falling out of their left nostrils and most of whom I’ve never seen again. At least I didn’t have to waste any time trying to wipe them off on my saddle.”